Thursday, April 10, 2008

Equating Value

An intresting situation has presented itself in a league i'm in & has since spread onto the forums as a topic. So now it begs the question.....how do you assign value in the game of Hardball Dynasty?

Value in itself can only be determined much like beauty, it falls in the eye of the beholder.What one sees as a tradeable chip can be seen as a very valueable commodity to another.

In this game generally the value chart would fall a bit like this100 - Major league veteran fully developed90 - Major league player entering their prime80 - High end prospect with legit major league potential70 - Major league ready prospect with lower ceiling60 - Prospect Payroll to afford to bring in valueable prospects for the future50 - Player payroll cap space for flexibility in making trades during the season

There are however several things that can change the appointment of said values.This can be anything from being in a payroll crunch, finding yourself unexpectedly in a playoff race or even a supposed once in a life time international free agent.When evaluating trades between 2 franchises we as HBD Gm's tend to only take into account the player value aspect of the deal. But we fail to take into account the potential flexibility it might give the other franchise.

Reviewing this trade we can see that Team Ruth has decided to rid themselves of heavy payroll for future seasons & gain a few stud prospects that their system is lacking.We also see that Team Cobb has decided that can contend for a title now & wish to make a run sooner rather than later. Even though they receiveOne team mortgages the future for right now, the other chooses to have cap space & build for the long haul.

Now at first glance this is a very unfair trade but if you look closer & see that Team Mcgwire has just $100,000 in cap space while team Bonds has $36,000,000 in unused cap space.Team McGwire uses the $10,000,000 freed up in the deal to transfer over to his prospect payroll to sign his first round draft pick Prospect 3 (66/98) $26,560($8,900,000 bonus) & his supplemental selection Prospect 4(59/81) $26,560($3,200,000 bonus)So if you revisit the trade is breaks down like this

This deal also gives the team(McGwire) more flexibility next season by clearing that extra 2 years & $10,000,000.The same result could have been achieved by dealing 2 veteran players making $5,000,000 for lesser prospects & thus eliminating the need to give up the prospects.

The difficulty in this answer is that there is not a definitive answer.truthfully the opinion of value is contingent upon the world itself. Irregardless of the quality of the world.Both strategies are of a valid nature but the only way to determine the answer is to simply do it yourself & then decide.